Jay Z: I miss the old Kanye

But Roc-A-Fella co-founder says they're 'a little too old for rap beef'

Kanye and Jay Z backstage at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards (Getty)

Despite having described Jay Z as his ‘big brother’ in a song of the same name and credited him with kickstarting his career, Kanye West seems to fallen out of love with Hov.

Last week, he said that "There will never be a Watch The Throne 2 [rumoured follow-up to the pair’s collab album] ... I wasn't on the [the album version of 'Pop Style'] 'cause of Hov. It was some Tidal/Apple bullshit. This shit gets me tight every time I perform this motherfucker."

Then at a show he name-checked Jay again, explaining that he called him “after the [Kim K] robbery to say ‘how you feelin?’

“You wanna know how I’m feelin’? Come by the house,” Ye continued, “bring the kids by the house. like we brothers, and sit down.”

The co-founder of Jay Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records responded to Kanye’s words this week, recalling a recent conversation he had with Jay.

Referencing a recent Ye track, Kareem ‘Biggs’ Burke told Page Six: “The last I saw [West], he spoke really highly of Jay. I’m not sure about the relationship at this point. I spoke to Jay [after Kanye’s rant] and we’re both just like, ‘We miss the old Kanye.'”

He didn’t say whether he missed the chop up the soul Kanye or set on his goals Kanye.

“From what I know of Kanye, he’s usually really honest,” Burke continued. "So it sounds like something he’s going through right now. He may [say] something like that, and then three weeks later he may be back to, ‘That’s my brother.’ But at this point, with everybody’s career, we’re a little too old for rap beef.”

The sad truth is that while Jay Z used to be untouchable, his regard among the hip hop community is now at such a low that it doesn’t particularly matter if you have him on side anymore.